DURANGO, Colo. –The Fort Lewis College men's and women's cross-country teams enjoyed strong performances while competing at the annual Tom Strandt Memorial on Friday at the Hillcrest Golf Course on Friday afternoon.

On the men's side, redshirt junior John Ngaruiya turned in a highlight performance with an 8k time of 27:30.35 to earn a first-place finish. Following Ngaruiya was freshman Brady Burrough who clocked a time of 28:33.73 for fourth place.

"We had very specific race plans for this afternoon," said men's cross-country head coach Joshua Coon. "This is the RMAC Championship course in two years, so we went out hoping to learn the course and run it well, and I think we did that today."

For the women, it was junior Angel Curley that crossed the finish line first for the Skyhawks. Curley turned in a time of 19:51.96 to finish 6^th in the 5k race. She was followed closely by freshman Katie Fankhouser who placed 8^th with a time of 20:26.83.

"Angel is a very consistent runner for us. She always shows up, and she's always a gamer so I was pleased but not surprised," commented women's cross-country head coach Brett Sublett. "In addition to her performance, I thought our team really rallied to turn in a good race today, and I saw great improvements on the course."

The teams will have athletes competing at a pair of meets next week. Friday will see athletes traveling to race in the University of Colorado Colorado Springs XC Open and Saturday will feature the University of Alabama Huntsville Open in Huntsville, Alabama.